Two bills recently passed by the General Assembly will impact police. People who sue local governments, including police departments, could get paid higher awards, and a police drug seizure bill would require proof before property like cash or vehicles are seized. (Photo by reynermedia, Creative Commons.)

Editor’s note: The fate of many bills was determined Monday, the last day of Maryland’s legislative session, known as Sine Die. Below, we examine the last-minute passage of several bills written about by MarylandReporter.com throughout the 90-day session.

Counties that have been successfully sued can expect to be writing checks double the amount they paid for tort claims previously, as the $200,000 cap increases to $400,000 in October.

Proponents of the new law argued people harmed by agents of local government like police officers should be fairly compensated. They originally wanted to increase the cap to $500,000, and the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee agreed.

An amendment made to the bill in the House of Delegates would have set the new cap at $300,000. In order to resolve disputes, members of the House and Senate created a conference committee to hash out a compromise.

Those favoring a higher limit said inflation over the years has caused the original $200,000 cap, decided back in the 1987, to only equal out to $90,000 now.

Chaired by Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore, and Del. Samuel Rosenberg, D-Baltimore City, the conference committee reached the $400,000 per individual claim compromise, with $800,000 capping total claims awarded for the same incident.

The bill would also align any county laws that currently require claims to be filed in a six-month period to change to a one-year overall state law.

HB113 awaits the governor’s signature, passing the House 89-45 and the Senate 33-14.

Police will face higher burden of proof in drug, gambling seizures

Also reaching the governor’s desk is SB528, a police seizure and forfeiture bill that gives citizens more protection from permanently losing property like cash or cars to police departments.

The bill shifts the “burden of proof” from the owners of the property to law enforcement.

“If this is sustained, it will surely lead to the creation of a cluster of related industries, which has a ripple effect in job creation, larger consumer base, and revenue collection,” said the Maryland Film Office in the bill’s fiscal note.

In order to scale back, while not completely ending the credit, the governor is allowed to award a capped amount of $7,500,000 in fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

For 2017, the governor will decide the amount awarded after reviewing an analysis by DLS.

That is much less than the previous amount, which totalled $25 million in fiscal year 2014.

The revised credit received a vote of 43-4 in the Senate and 84-53 in the House.

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